Can't cash Canadian sponsor checks! Need help please.
 

I got a slight problem, and I hope someone here can tell me what I need to/can do. I'm not gonna name the sponsors, because it's not their fault, so I'll refer to them as A, B, & C. Here's the situation...

About two weeks ago, I got a check from Sponsor A, and I cashed it at a local restaurant. The owner stamped it "For Deposit Only" and all of that, and sent it to his bank. They sent it to their "clearing house" and it got sent back to the owner on the restaurant (now stamped with the clearing houses stamp as well), because the clearing house can't clear Canadian checks.

In the meantime, I cashed two more checks (Sponsor B and Sponsor C) at the same restaurant. Owner stamped them too, but before he could take them to the bank, he got the check from Sponsor A back, so he held on to the other two checks so I could pick them up and not have to pay the bank fees on them.

So now, I'm stuck with three Canadian checks...one stamped by the restaurant and the bank, and the other two just stamped by the restaurant...and I have no way to cash them. I finally found a bank that will process non-US checks...but they won't take these because they have been stamped.

Anyone have any idea what I can do? Thanks!!

cash the check at a bank?

Just ask the sponsor to re-issue the checks. They will charge you a small fee but they will fix it for oyu.

Your problem is evident in your own post, why are you cashing them at a restaurant? Never heard of that before. You should be cashing them at the bank and most banks will cash them no problem... :thumbsup

My Bank serves pretty good soup and sandwich at lunch.

Return the "stamped" checks back to the sponsors and ask for replacements. Explain to them that the banking arrangements you had (your favorite eatery) won't process Canadian checks anymore. The checks have not be processed so the funds are still waiting.

Then start dealing with a bank!

I hope the IRS isn't watching ..... Jeeze :Oh crap

No, it's not the restaurant that won't process the checks...it's the bank that they deal with...which is also the only bank in our town. Yes, I live in Shitville. The closest place that will process Canadian checks is about 30-45 minutes away.

The restaurant (and their bank) cash all of my checks for me. The owner doesn't like to deal with a lot of cash at the end of the week, so he cashes my checks, and he doesn't have to worry about having the cash on hand.

All three checks are small...so sending them back to the sponsors would probably cost more than it's worth. I dunno what the hell the deal is, but everytime I deal with Canada, I get screwed. Got screwed twice on eBay for over $1000.00...now this.

The banks might think that something fishy is going on. Go straight to a bank

I don't understand why? I don't think I've done anything wrong. It doesn't matter where I cash my checks as long as I pay taxes on the money, does it?

I did, after all this went down I went and asked them why it was returned...and they said because it was from Canada. I said, well, can it be ran back through. They told me that they don't accept Canadian checks at all.

just what i was thinking :1orglaugh

Man, I knew I was gonna get made fun of for cashing them at a restaurant...but I don't see what the big deal is. I eat there everyday...been friends with the owner since I was born (my dad worked for him at the time), and it's just so much easier to say, "Hey Jimmy, can you cash these for me", than it is to explain to the teller why I'm cashing checks from 10 different sponors (some with porn sounding names...or in one case...with their website address right on the check) every week.

i've been having some issues lately with larger then normal canadian checks at my bank... i bank with wells fargo.

the only issue is they want these checks to go thru collections which could take weeks... i wasn't having that.

so i asked the sponsor to wire me the money instead... problem solved.

you don't have to explain shit to the teller :2 cents: who gives a fuck business is business.

These aren't larger than normal...they are waaaaay smaller than normal. I e-mailed copies of the check to Sponsor A, and they offered to ePass the money to me, but I don't have ePass. I haven't heard anything back from them since I told them that two days ago.

Ok SlamDesigns - first, seeing that you live in a small town, I can understand that you're going to your neighbourhood restaurant to cash them - but trying to cash a US cheque drawn on a Canadian bank or a Canadian Bank with a US corresponding bank is a WHOLE OTHER STORY. *BTW - if you do go through a bank that can't cash it for you and they have to send it for special clearing, each cheque will eventually cost you about $40-$60 US to get cashed + over 30-45 days for you to see the money*

My question to you is this - does your town have ATM machines?

If yes, I'd suggest you get one of your sponsors to get you an Epassporte or Funds2Go card - then send them back the checks with uncleared funds and have them transfer the funds to your new card so you can easily withdraw the funds from the card.

Sounds like money laundering lol

Considering you use a restaurant to cash your checks I am guessing that you are using a mom and pop bank.

wells fargo charges $1.50, and if the check is under 1k a manager can use their discretion if they want to release the funds immediately to you.. based on your account status.


$40-$60??? time to find a new bank. thats insane.

Remember though...I live in Shitville...right in the middle of the Bible Belt. I just found out that one of the online video rental places can't even send adult DVD's to my county because of some law. I won't have this problem much longer, I sold all my sites due to the laws (local and federal).

I have the same problem but in reverse.
My canadian bank puts a 4 week hold on all US cheques, and a 6 week hold on cheques from internet companies.
Seems some lady got screwed out some big dollars on a bouncing US cheque from an internet source, and now they are very fussy about it.
So now its epass or wire for me no more cheques.

Nah, nothing like that. The grand total of the checks was right at $100, no big amounts of money or anything. I just never saw anything wrong with cashing them there...and I do pay taxes on everything I make. I'm too scared of the law to do anything illegal.

Never been audited have you .... When a self employed business owner cashes a check at a restaurant or the issuing bank for cash, rather than depositing it into his corporate account, he is setting himself up for a lifestyle audit, and future scrutiny that is a nightmare.

They will automatically think --- how many accounts does he have that he keeps a second set of books on and has no trail of income.

Example... I pay a carpenter $5,000.00 to build a deck or something. He takes my check to your restaurant or MY bank, gets it cashed for cash. Will he set aside $1,500.00 for quarterly taxes? Or pretend he never did the job.

And who would know? Even if you are honest they will see the potential for avoidance and treat you accordingly.

why even bother cashing checks where you eat. lame. goto a bank.

Yep...very small. They have 3 banks in the chain, all located within about 20 miles of each other. It sucks to live in a small town.

This is insane.

I'm in Canada, thus I'm on the reverse side of this, and I can tell you that when I take my US cheques to my CANADIAN bank, they happily accept them. Years ago I asked them to set up a special US account for me, and I deposit all my American cheques directly into that account. Then I do a transfer of funds from that US account into my regular savings (CDN) account. I save on exhange fees that way.

Funny how it's so easy here on our side, but down in the US many financial institutions are quite narrow in their policies on foriegn currency. Hell, at my bank if I want to buy pesos they'll sell me pesos.

I suggest keeping your online business going, and just MOVE. Go live somewhere where there are competing banks who all want your business and who won't look at you funny over who is issuing the cheques to you.

Heh, never thought of it from that point of view. I do see where you're coming from though, and thanks for the advice.

You might also try talking to the bank manager, buying a cd, letting the bank hold it as collateral (you have savings anyway, right) and treat your incoming checks as if they were local. :2 cents:

.

This is the weirdest post i have read so far today
btw, my checks are cashable worldwide ;)

Let my contractor friends nightmare be a lesson you don't have to learn on your own. :thumbsup

At the receiving banks discretion.

I'm sure I wouldn't have the same problem in a bigger city, but this is a really small town. Population is right at 2100.

My online business is already gone. Sold everything the end of last month. Like I said, I have a genuine fear of the law, and when the new 2257 stuff passed, I was afraid that I couldn't keep up with all of the record keeping, etc...so I sold out.

As for these checks...if I don't get 'em taken care of, it's no big deal. They are all three small, and thankfully the only ones I had coming from Canada, so I can take the loss if I have to.

lol Thanks for the info. I'm outta the business though, so I won't be signing up for any new programs.

Alky -
1) are you cashing a USD cheque drawn on a CANADIAN BANK (meaning the bank address on the check is in Canada)?
2) are you cashing a USD cheque drawn on a CANADIAN BANK with US CORRESPONDING or US address?
3) is it a CDN cheque altogether?

The other possibility is that WellsFargo has a Canadian Clearing house and have special processing procedures that don't call for the 'send on collection' or 'special clearing' process.

I would hear about it from affiliates if any checks
were having problems or didn't go through .
So far there hasn't been any issues at all . I have
"special bank accounts" though in Canada
(knock on wood) :)

Yeah, I will...and I really do appreciate the info. I had never thought of it from that point of view before.

Depending on the bank - if they have a US presence it serves as their clearing house/center so they have easier processing.

*Is it HSBC?* ;)

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh seriously WTF!

I get checks drawn on Canadian banks in Canadian funds on occasion. I deposit them with my local bank and am charged a flat rate of $4 per check. They send them off for repayment.

Sounds like you simply have a really odd bank.

Indeed no idea why you are doing this its funny:)

If I were you I would have driven to a much larger town and setup a proper account with a real bank. You could always have been mailing in your checks to deposit and withdrawing the money via ATM. I can't even comprehend any bank not taking a Canadian check. I can understand a bank not cashing one for someone because they are not an account holder... but I can't comprehend a bank that isn't able to deposit those funds and clear them in a few days.

Brad

i'm surprised this resturant guy is even able to cash for them you considering the checks are in your name, not his. why doesn't your local bank cash canadian checks? even though they are canadian, they are always in USD. if i were you i'd talk to the bank closest to you and see if they cant' work something out. it can't be that hard to accept canadian checks. if that doesn't work, just drive the extra half hour to the bank that does and save up your checks so you only have to do it once a month.

I've had ONE affiliate tell me their bank teller wouldnt deal with our check "because it's canadian", well our bank is in america and the teller was umm.. mentally challenged ;) Maybe you dealt with one like that.

Contact the sponsors and mail them back (only cost should be stamps) and they should be able to reissue. Cheaper than a stop-payment. Then walk into the bank and if the teller wont deposit it, ask to talk to the branch manager or someone because thats rediculous.

I use chase, canadian checks, as long as they're drawn in USD clear the same day I deposit them with no fee.